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PR26-0211 • 2025

Fiscal Year 2025 Revised Local Budget Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Fiscal Year 2025 Revised Local Budget Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Budget Education Taxes
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
at the request of the Mayor
Last action
2025-08-22
Official status
Approved
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not explicitly state that immediate action is required beyond what is necessary to make adjustments.

Emergency Declaration for Adjusting FY 2025 Local Budget

This resolution declares an emergency to adjust the Fiscal Year 2025 local budget due to changes made by Congress, allowing the District of Columbia to use additional revenue and increase appropriations.

What This Bill Does

  • Declares that there is an emergency situation requiring adjustments to the Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024.
  • Allows the District to use its authority under Section 817 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, to increase appropriations by up to 6% for most funds and up to 25% for special-purpose revenue funds.
  • Permits the District to appropriate additional revenues collected from taxes and other sources that exceed the amounts appropriated in Fiscal Year 2024.

Who It Names or Affects

  • The Mayor of Washington, D.C., who requested this resolution.
  • Residents and businesses of Washington, D.C., as it affects public services like education, safety, and infrastructure.
  • Government agencies in the District of Columbia that rely on budget allocations for their operations.

Terms To Know

Section 817
A provision allowing the District to increase appropriations based on revenue collections.
Fiscal Year
The financial year used for budgeting and accounting purposes, typically running from October 1st of one year to September 30th of the next.

Limits and Unknowns

  • It is unclear how much additional revenue will be available for appropriation beyond Fiscal Year 2024 levels.
  • The resolution does not specify which specific programs or services will receive increased funding.

Bill History

  1. 2025-08-22 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Resolution R26-0186, Effective from Jul 28, 2025 Published in DC Register Vol 72 and Page 009150

  2. 2025-07-28 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Legislative Meeting

  3. 2025-07-28 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Approved with Resolution Number R26-0186

  4. 2025-06-03 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    Retained by the Council with comments from the Committee of the Whole

  5. 2025-05-27 Council of the District of Columbia LIMS

    PR26-0211 Introduced by Chairman Mendelson at Office of the Secretary

Official Summary Text

Fiscal Year 2025 Revised Local Budget Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
ENROLLED ORIGINAL

1

A RESOLUTION

26-186

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

July 28, 2025

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to adjust certain
appropriations in the Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024.

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Fiscal Year 2025 Revised Local Budget Adjustment Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2025”.

Sec. 2. (a) The Council approved a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2025 pursuant to the
Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024, effective September 18, 2024 (D.C. Law 25-218; 71
DCR 8366).
(b) Since the time that budget was approved, Congress passed the Full-Year Continuing
Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, approved March 15, 2025 (Pub. L. 119-4; 139 Stat. 9),
which can be read to appropriate the District’s Fiscal Year 2025 local funds at the level specified
for Fiscal Year 2024 in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act,
2024 (division B of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, approved March 23,
2024 (Pub. L. 118-47; 138 Stat. 460)) (“Public Law 118-47”), and under the authority and
conditions provided therein.
(c) To the extent Congress in fact has restricted the District’s ability to expend its own
local funds such that the District may not do so in excess of Fiscal Year 2024 levels, this
congressional action unnecessarily and detrimentally impacted the District’s ability to spend
approximately $1.1 billion of its own locally generated revenue. Congress compounded this
significant problem by taking its action during the middle of the fiscal year, even though it had
twice previously approved, through 2 prior continuing resolutions, the District’s own enacted
Fiscal Year 2025 spending levels. These actions greatly reduced the District’s ability to fund
important services for District residents, commuters, and visitors, such as public safety,
educational supports, infrastructure improvements, and social services.
(d) The District can somewhat mitigate the impact of Congress’s action by utilizing the
authority provided by Congress in section 817 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009,
approved March 13, 2009 (123 Stat. 699; D.C. Official Code § 47-369.02) (“Section 817”).
ENROLLED ORIGINAL

2

(e) Section 817 authorizes the District, “beginning in fiscal year 2009 and each fiscal year
thereafter,” to increase the amounts appropriated in a fiscal year, when such an increase is
consistent with revenue collections.
(f) In such a circumstance, the District may, pursuant to Section 817, increase the amount
appropriated for special-purpose revenue funds by an aggregate amount of up to 25% and may
increase the amount appropriated for any other District funds by an aggregate amount of up to
6%.
(g) In addition to authorizing the District to use its federally mandated reserves, Public
Law 118-47 expressly recognizes the District’s ability to utilize its Section 817 authority to
increase appropriations.
(h) Revenue collections from special-purpose revenue funds, dedicated taxes, and local
funds in Fiscal Year 2025 exceed the amounts appropriated for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2024.
(i) Appropriating these additional revenue collections will allow the District to support
public services, including public safety, education, and human services, above the levels set forth
in Congress’s Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025.
(j) Therefore, to address existing budget pressures, adjustments to the Fiscal Year 2025
budget are now necessary to recognize the adjustments made by Congress and to appropriate
additional resources above the congressionally adjusted amounts that are now available for
appropriation by the District pursuant to Section 817.
(k) Immediate action is necessary to make these adjustments so that the associated
modifications to District government programs and activities may be timely implemented and a
balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2025 may be maintained.

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Fiscal
Year 2025 Revised Local Budget Adjustment Emergency Act of 2025 be adopted after a single
reading.

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.